Brasilia, Brazil

A dinner for former ISS students was hosted by Dr. Lee Pegler, in Brasilia, Brasil on 14 December 2010. It was a most enjoyable meeting at a very pleasant restaurant and attended by five alumni, all of whom have interesting public sector or research jobs. There was a lively discussion about staff changes at ISS, the new rector, the significance of the integration within Erasmus and, of course, about their fond memories of study and social life in The Hague/ISS/Holland. The discussion emphasized the unique contribution studying at ISS can make to the broader learning/development process for people from many walks of life. Lee Pegler found it inspiring to be amongst such a bright and charming group of people so far from (his) home but also to be united by their common institutional base. He was sure that they would all be happy to be even more active as ‘ambassadors’ of the ISS in their respective fields of work and influence. The idea of holding more regular get-togethers and their participation in refresher courses were also strongly supported.

Jakarta, Indonesia

The Four Seasons Hotel in Jakarta was the place where alumni of ISS, IHS and the Erasmus University Rotterdam have met on Saturday 9 October 2010. Guest speaker on this occasion was ISS alumnus Dr. Max Pohan, Deputy Minister of National Development Planning/Heas of Bappenas for Regional Development and Local Autonomy Affairs. Unfortunately this EUR organized event was limited in number of seats so not all the requests to attend could be granted. Approx. 15 of the 70 attendants were alumni of ISS.

Lusaka, Zambia

Over 35 ISS alumni attended the alumni gathering in Lusaka, Zambia on Monday 2 August 2010. ISS' Ria Brouwers has hosted the meeting: 'All attendants were very enthusiastic. It was a wonderful meeting with so many alumni attending and we were also happy that the Netherlands Embassy was represented by the Ambassador, Mr. Harry Molenaar, as well as by two other staff members. I am sure that there will be a follow up of this meeting by alumni themselves and by the Dutch embassy in cooperation with our alumni.'

Kyoto, Japan

On 23 June 2010 seven ISS alumni met in Kyoto, Japan, with professor Wil Hout. They all had a great evening. "It was a wonderful opportunity to see old colleagues again and get to know new people. The reunion was cozy and relaxed, and reminded me of the people at ISS, the course and The Netherlands." (Akiko Kamiiisaka)

New York, USA

Erasmus University Rotterdam organized an alumni meeting in New York on 4 May 2010. Three ISS alumni attended this interesting meeting where a speech was held by Dutch economist and feminist Heleen Mees.

Tegucicalpa, Honduras

Four ISS alumni in Honduras met with ISS' Dr. Kees Biekart on Friday 30 April 2010 (Queen's Day in the Netherlands) in Tegucicalpa, Honduras.

Berlin, Germany

During their study visit to Berlin, Germany, ISS students and Dr. Joop de Wit and Karin Hirdes met with ISS alumni on 28 April 2010.

Ethiopian Alumni met at International Leadership Institute in Adddis Ababa

On Wednesday 3 February 2010 ISS hosted a gathering of 22 alumni of ISS. We had former short course students, Masters and three PhD's.

Prof. Badeg Bekele, President of the International Leadershop Institute, where the meeting was held, warmly welcomed the alumni in the completely new building. He spoke enthusiasticly about his institute but also about the experiences he had with ISS, where Dr. Filmon recently graduated and has now been appointed Vice President for Research and Academic Affairs.

The formal part of the meeting was very interactive, whereby Michel Wesseling updated the alumni on the recent integration of ISS in the Erasmus University, the assignment of 6 new professors and the access to a very rich resource of electronic scholarly publications. We also celebrated the 100 doctoral theses that were produced at ISS as an independent institution: 12 of these originate from students from Ethiopia, which was worth a loud applause.

It was strongly felt that ISS alumni should gather more often and that more should participate. Alumni promised each other to keep the ties with each other, exchange ideas via the ISS Facebook account and initiate an Ethiopian Alumni Association. ILI offered to provide an office space and some secretarial support.

After the formal meeting we went to an adjacent restaurant to continue the discussions, enjoying dinner and drinks. The overall feeling of the alumni was expressed in one sentence: 'This gathering brought back so many good memories, that now it feels as if I left the ISS only yesterday'. Each individual alumna or alumnus expressed a warm greeting to ISS staff in general or individuals in particular.